Olof dahl



.m L |11 y Patented Sept.. 24, 1889.

OQDAHL.

l III (No MdeL) PRESS F GBNBRAIG BLETRIGITY BY GAS BATTERIES- N0..111,426.`

f L\\ V f llh 1 l ull l uil lliuirs *rare Partnr @trici-3..

OLOF DAIIL, Oli BROOKLYN, .NElV YORK.

PROCESS @if GENERATIING ELCTMClTY @Y GASmBATTlHlS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,426, datedSeptember 24, 1889.

Y Application filed June 17. 1889. Serial No. 3414.635. (No model.)

To nl l whom z may concern.-

lle 1t lnown that l, OLOF DAHL, a subject ot the King of Sweden,residing at Brooklyn,

in the county of Kings and State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in the Process ofGenerating Electricity, ot which the following is a speciiication.

My invent-ion relates to a process of generating electricity fromfuel-such as coke or coal--by7 chemical means; and its object is toproduce electricity by the principle of the gas-battery in a cheap andpractical manner.

' The principle of the gas-battery is well known to be that whenhydrogen and oxygen or certain other gases are brought into con tacteach with one of the two electrodes of a'battery immersed in acidulatedwater, and the electrodes are the terminals of a closed circuit, acurrent will flow in -said circuit. 'lhe same result can be obtainedwith a battery in which one of the active bodies is gaseous, while theother is liquid.

IIeretofore the gas-batteries vhave not received much application, owingto the want of cheap and practical ways of producing the gases,especially the hydrogen.

This invention contemplates an electricityproducing process whichutilizes a new and economical .way of producing hydrogen together withways for manufacturing oxygen or equivalent gas, gas-battery orgas-batteries, and a working circuit or circuits.

In the drawing' the gure represents the apparatus embraced by myinvention in con-- Ventional form.

I will now describe the process, which is as follows:

Referring to the drawing by letter, A represents a furnace similar -tothose used in making water-gas, which is charged with ook coal, or othersuitable fuel.. This isred and brought to a certain temperature, morespecically defined hereinbelow, by the aid`of an air-blast supplied bythe blower B. While the fuel is rising to the required temperature agaseous product, commonly known as Siemens generator or producergas,'isgenerated and passes through the pipe to the gaslxoldor C, whence it maybe conducted ioother acid will be generated, or at higher temperaturcsonly carbonio oxide and hydrogen. It' the temperature of the fuel is:not allowed to become high enough, part of the steam `will escapeundecomposed. This is, however, preferable to allowing the temperatureto become too high, as the undecornposed steam is more easily separatedfrom the mixture than is the carbonic oxide. Simultaneously or nearlysimultaneously with the admitting of the steam to the incandescent fuelthe outlet to the gas-holder C is cut od and the production by thedecomposing of the steam is led olf through a condenser Evi/herein thesteam that`might have escaped undecomposed is condensed to water anddeposited.

vl prefer to let the outlet to the gas-holder C be open for a momentafter the steam has been admitted to the fuel, in order to let the firstresulting mixture, that4 might contain some nitrogen, go with theproducer-gas. The gas-mixture next passes to a purifier G, containinghydrate ot lime, which absorbs the carbonio acid and allows the hydrogento pass to be present in the gas-mixture that enters the purifiers, theymay be causedto be absorbed by suitable substances before the mixturemeets the hydrate of lime-*aa for instance, oxide ot' iron for sulphurcompounds.

Oxygen may be produced byany well-known methods. l prefer to produce itby heating in earthenware tubes l, in a current of steam, sodiummanganate, (Nallln04,) which then 'gives olf free oxygen to be led offto the gaslower oxide of lmanganese,(M1102.) These products, when againheated in ai rfrorn the blower B, absorb oxygen, the manganese beingreproduced, so that the same portion may be used over and over again.The chemical ac- -.te the gas-holder H. lf impurities are foundy AholderJ, forming caustic soda (NaOH) and IOO vtion which takes place issupposed to be cxpia'incd by the following equation:

the H2O in the last equation being allowed to escape, together with theN and other components of the air. By repeating the process a regularproduetionotexyge can be obtained from asinallquantity of chemicals. Thegases having been manufactured and stored in the separate holders II andJ, they are separat-ely conducted to the opposite chambers of thebattery K. The battery maybe of any suitable construction and ofanynumber of cells, and the cells may be joined iny intenSityor-inquant-ity or in combinations of both. 'l-he battery shown `in thedrawing consists ot a jar, of glas: or other suit-able material, air-vtightly closed at the top and having a dividing-wall that has an openingat the bottom. '.lhe jar is partly filled with acidulated water reachingover the opening in the dividingwall, closing oi two separate chamberscon-I taining the gases. Each of the chambers also' containsali/electrode of platinum or other suitable material partlyimmersed inthe acid-v ulated water. The electrodes are electrically connected witheach other outside the battery through the working vci 'cuit orcircuits.

Instead of oxygemcertain other gases, mixture of gases, or liquids maybe used.

In all the processes herein described it will be seen that the onlything of value which is consumed is the fuel. The charges ot chemicalsmay be used over and over, and after the iirst charge need never berenewed. When the exhausting power of the hydrate of lime ybecomesexhausted, it may be rcvivificd and reused. lt is to be understood, ofcourse, that suitable ducts or pipes connect with the several chambers,and that each is provided with a valve. All this is shown in thcdrawing. It will thus be seen that by keeping up the fires and attendingto the supplies of steam. and air a current of electricity may becontinuously generated direct from the fuel.

Having thus described my invention, l' clain1 l. The process ofgenerating electricity v herein described, consisting in, first, raisingthe temperature of a body of fuei to incandeseence by the aid ot'atmospheric air and utilizing the gases evolved in this operation forfuel and other purposes;

the air and admitting steam to the incandes cent fu'e'when it hasreached such atcrnpe'rature 'that the admitted steam will'be decom-'posed into hydrogen and carbonio acid; third,

separating the carbonio acid from the hydrogen by causing hydrate oflime to absorb the carbonio acid, and conducting the hydrogen to oneside of- 'a gas-battery or gas-batteries,

and, fourth, producing oxygen or equivalent gas and conducting it to theother side of the above-m entioned gas-battery or gas-batteries.

2. -'lhe process of generating electricity herein described, consistingin, first, raising second,I shutting on?" the temperature of a body offuel to incan'A descence by the aid of atmospheric air, and in utilizingthe gases evolved in this opera-,

tion for-fuel or othcrpurposes; second, shntting oif the air andadmitting steam to the incandescent fuel when it has reached such atemperature that the-admitted steam will be decomposed"and hydrogen andcarbonicl acid formed; thi rd, passing thegases through' condensers andpuriiiers tol cndenseiihe steam th at might have escaped undeeoi'nposedand take up possible mprities; fourth, separating the carbonio acid fromthe hydrogen by causing hydrate of linie to absorb the carbonic acid,and conducting the hydrogen to one side of a gas-battery orgas-batteries, and, fifth, producing oxygen or equivalent gas andconducting it to the other side of the abovementioned gas-battery orgas-batteries.

Signed at Brooklyn, in the county of K ings and State of New A. D. 1889.

OLOF DHL.

Witnesses:

ERNST F. JoNsoN,

AND. J'oNssoN.

York, this 12th day oi' June,-l

